College Football News June 2: Ray Watts Killing UAB Football Saved It?

UAB president Ray Watts is college football’s Public Enemy No. 1, even after Monday’s announced reinstatement of the Blazer program. But the Blazers commanded national headlines for the last six months, which UAB never had before.

With a flood of attention from national media came a commensurate outpouring of support from UAB fans and potential donors, which the Blazers need to sustain the program for the long haul. In a weird way, writes CBSSports.com’s Dennis Dodd, Ray Watts killing UAB football saved it.

It’s an intriguing theory that Dodd supports well, though I’m not necessarily buying it. Ray Watts is an intelligent man, but the closure of Blazers football wasn’t some evil genius plan realized. Watts isn’t Blofeld and the Alabama Board of Trustees aren’t SPECTRE.

Moreover, support would have come for UAB football with sustained success. Bill Clark did much more to save UAB football than Ray Watts with a bowl-eligible season, and returning a solid core for the 2015 season could have propelled the Blazers to their best campaign in program history. Wins have an uncanny way of bringing fans, and ostensibly money, out of the woodwork.

Ray Watts’ temporary closure of UAB football prevented that breakout 2015 from happening, and actually hamstrung Clark for the next few years, as well.

Another intriguing column with a thesis on which I don’t agree, John Adams of Go Vols Xtra lays out the argument for an eight-team College Football Playoff. His concept’s certainly simple enough: all five power-conference champions are automatically in, with the rest of the nation jockeying for three at-large bids.

In the 2014 season, an eight-team College Football Playoff would have included near-misses Baylor and TCU — though which won was the automatic bid and which was the at-large would have still been up to some debate because #OneTrueChampion.

However, spots No. 7 and 8 at season’s end would have gone to Michigan State — solid — and Mississippi State. The Bulldogs’ lopsided losses to close the regular season against Ole Miss, and in the Orange Bowl against ACC runner-up Georgia Tech, proved MSU was not a national championship contender.

A national quarterfinal pitting Alabama and Nick Saban against his former home, Michigan State, would have been fun. But a paper No. 1 that was performing more like Mehssissippi State at season’s end would have been unnecessary and further encroached on the bowls.